The United States Revenue Cutter Service was established by an act of Congress on 4 August 1790 as the Revenue-Marine upon the recommendation of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton to serve as an armed customs enforcement service. As time passed, the service gradually gained missions either voluntarily or by legislation, including those of a military nature. It was generally referred to as the Revenue-Marine until 31 July 1894, when it was officially renamed the Revenue Cutter Service. The Revenue Cutter Service operated under the authority of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. On 28 January 28 1915, the service was merged by an act of Congress with the United States Life-Saving Service to form the United States Coast Guard.
John Foster Williams was an American mariner who served as an officer in the Massachusetts State Navy during the American Revolutionary War and later an officer in the Revenue-Marine.
USRC Walter Forward was a schooner constructed for service with the United States Revenue Marine. She was more commonly known as USRC Forward. Forward served with the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy in Mexican waters during the Mexican–American War and was commended for her actions during the Tabasco River landings by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, U.S. Navy. After the war, she was transferred to the U.S. Coast Survey for a short time as USCS Walter Forward before being returned to the Revenue Marine for service during the 1850s and the American Civil War.
USRC General Green was one of the first ten cutters operated by the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service. She was named for the Revolutionary War hero Major General Nathanael Greene. Her name was misspelled, probably by the man who oversaw her construction, the Collector of Customs in Philadelphia, Sharp Delany. Apparently the cutter was to have been originally named for the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, but Delany changed the name for reasons unknown.
USRC Massachusetts was one of the first ten cutters operated by the Revenue-Marine. She was built in Newburyport, Massachusetts and served out of Boston. Massachusetts by tradition is held to be the first revenue cutter to enter active service. She was also the first to be decommissioned, having a very short service life of only about 15 months before being sold.
USRC Argus was one of the first ten cutters operated by the United States' Revenue Cutter Service. Of the ten cutters, she was the longest to serve in this role.
USRC Diligence was one of the first ten cutters operated by the United States' Revenue Cutter Service.
USRC Eagle was one of the first ten cutters operated by the United States Revenue-Marine, which later became the United States Revenue Cutter Service and later still became part of the United States Coast Guard.
USRC Onondaga was an Algonquin-class cutter built for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service for service on the Great Lakes. Because of the Spanish–American War, she was cut in half shortly before completion and transported to Ogdensburg, New York for service on the Atlantic coast although the war ended before she could be put into service. After the formation of the United States Coast Guard in 1915 she became USCGC Onondaga. She served as a patrol vessel at various Atlantic coast ports before World War I and unlike most Coast Guard cutters during World War I, she remained under the control of the Commandant of the Coast Guard. After the war she patrolled for a brief time based at New London, Connecticut before being decommissioned in 1923.
Hopley Yeaton was the first officer commissioned under the Constitution of the United States by George Washington into the Revenue Marine, one of the forerunners of the modern-day United States Coast Guard. The Coast Guard was created when Congress merged the Revenue Cutter Service with the U.S. Lifesaving Service in 1915.
USRC Mohawk, was a steel steam powered revenue cutter built for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service by William R. Trigg Company at Richmond, Virginia. Her primary duties in the Revenue Cutter Service and Coast Guard were assisting vessels in distress and enforcing navigational laws as well as a derelict destroyer. Mohawk was sunk after a collision with another vessel in October 1917.
USRC Forward was a revenue cutter constructed for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service in 1882 by Pusey & Jones shipyard in Wilmington, Delaware. She was the second Revenue Cutter Service vessel named Forward and was named for Walter Forward, the fifteenth United States Secretary of the Treasury. The iron-hulled vessel originally cost US$72,750 and was powered by a two-cylinder steam engine with a topsail schooner brigantine sail pattern. Although Forward was considered a model ship at the time of its construction, it was severely underpowered and had unreliable machinery. The cost of repairs in the first fifteen years of operation was US$52,000.
USRC Salmon P. Chase was named after Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon Portland Chase. It was a three-masted bark with a hull length of 106 feet that was designed for use as a training ship for the cadets of the Revenue Cutter Service School of Instruction.
USRC Wissahickon was one of two Winnisimmet-class harbor tugs constructed by Spedden Company for the Revenue Cutter Service. She was initially stationed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ellsworth P. Bertholf served as captain of her from 9 November 1906 to 20 September 1907 in his first tour as a commanding officer. Bertholf would later serve as the Commandant of the Coast Guard. After the U.S. Coast Guard was formed in 1915, she was known as USCGC Wissahickon. In 1916, she was transferred to Baltimore, Maryland. The Navy assumed control of her from 6 April 1917 to 28 August 1919 during World War I. On 1 January 1923 she was transferred from Baltimore to New York City, where she remained in service until being decommissioned on 8 May 1935. On 8 May 1935 Wissahickon was decommissioned and later sold.
The capture of the schooner Bravo was a naval battle fought in 1819 between United States Revenue Cutter Service cutters and one of Jean Lafitte's pirate ships.
USRC Alabama, was a wood-hull topsail schooner designed by William Doughty that was commissioned in the United States Revenue Marine from 1819 to 1833. Assigned the homeport of Mobile, Alabama, she sailed the Caribbean extensively with her sister ship, USRC Louisiana and was used mainly in anti-piracy activity.
USRC Louisiana, was a wood hull topsail schooner designed by William Doughty that was commissioned in the United States Revenue Marine from 1819 to 1824. Assigned the homeport of New Orleans, Louisiana, she sailed the Caribbean extensively and was used mainly in anti-piracy activity.
USRC Pamlico was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service that served from 1907 to 1946 designed specifically to cruise inland waters and did so while stationed at New Bern, North Carolina her entire career.
USRC George S. Boutwell was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service that served from 1873 to 1907 designed for cruising the southern coasts. She was named for George S. Boutwell, the 28th United States Secretary of the Treasury.
USRC Algonquin was an Algonquin-class cutter built for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service for service on the Great Lakes. Because of the Spanish–American War, she was cut in half shortly before completion and transported to Ogdensburg, New York for service on the Atlantic coast although the war ended before she could be put into service. She was homeported at San Juan, Puerto Rico from 1905 to 1917. Algonquin served briefly for the U.S. Navy along the Atlantic Coast in the summer of 1898 before being returned to the Treasury Department. After the formation of the United States Coast Guard in 1915 the vessel became USCGC Algonquin. The ship served as a patrol vessel at Norfolk, Virginia at the beginning of World War I before being assigned convoy duty in the Mediterranean. In February 1919 Algonquin was transferred to the West Coast and served in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska until being decommissioned at San Francisco in December 1930.
United States